Lawrence Shankland hasn’t taken long to make himself a firm favourite down Gorgie way. A couple of goals on his debut in the pre-season debut against Stoke helped, but his status as a Hearts hero was cemented with a strike in his first Edinburgh derby on Sunday - then reinforced by a goal-line clearance to deny Elias Melkersen at the other end a couple of minutes later.
Those efforts had the Hearts support singing his praises long and loud at Easter Road and looked like being the two moments that mattered in a frantic Capital clash until Martin Boyle decided to rip up the script and create his own fairytale ending with virtually the final kick of the ball. Shankland didn’t try to hide his disappointment at the manner in which the match had finished but when the dust had settled, the 26-year-old reckoned there were far more positives than negatives to take from the Jambos’ display.
And he believes a partnership with Barrie McKay, who created his goal on Sunday, will become even more of a threat as they get to know each other better in the coming weeks and months. The Scotland international, who returned to the Premiership after a disappointing spell in Belgium with Beerschot, said: “It was a sickener for us, conceding that late in the game. Everyone knows that.
"At the end of the day, we got a point away from home in a derby. But yeah, he (Boyle) probably did steal my thunder. We just had a throw-in to defend in their half. They managed to get the knockdown and I think we were a wee bit open for the second ball, which I think caused us the biggest problem.
“That allowed them to get the runners down the side of us and the boy [Elie Youan] played a good ball in to be fair, and they got their goal. We didn’t manage it as well as we should have.
“When you go into the changing room, after you’ve conceded that late, it feels like a defeat. But when we’ve all settled down we’ll look at the bigger picture.
“We’ve not lost the game and that’s the most important thing. It was a decent performance from us and there’s plenty of positives to take.”
One of those is his link-up play with McKay: "He’s a clever player and part of coming to Hearts was to play with players like that. He’ll find you in those areas. I made a good run for the goal and if you make good runs then players like that can find you. It was a decent goal.
“At the start of the second half, in the first 10-15 minutes, we made three good chances. David Marshall made a really good double save to be fair, and I think there was another one as well.
“But when you get those chances you need to get the second goal. And had we got it I think we would’ve seen the game out.We’re disappointed with that.”
Shankland is relishing this rekindling of his career and insists that games like the Edinburgh derby are the reason he decided to return to Scotland. He added: “It was great. They’re really good games to play in. Part of me coming here was to play in this kind of game for this club.
“It was great, obviously it was my first competitive goal for Hearts. There’s no better game to get it in for myself, so I’m delighted with that. But obviously I would’ve been much better if we’d taken the win.
“I could have enjoyed it a lot more if they hadn’t spoiled the party at the end. It wasn’t to be.”
Hearts boss Robbie Neilson is still looking for new recruits. But he admitted he is delighted at the manner in which those he has signed already are shaping up.
Neilson said: “Although we have continuity in some areas we also have new guys coming in who are still learning. I thought Kye Rowles was exceptional against Hibs at centre half. He’s going to the World Cup so he’s going to be a good player. You could see that he is very, very comfortable in possession and out of possession. I think he will be a very good player for us.
“Jorge Grant is beginning to get an understanding of how we play and Lawrence got his goal and we had chances to go on and get two, three or four. We put on a brilliant performance, probably should have won but didn’t.”
READ NEXT:
